These are indeed most interesting times in which we live. Some millenia ago the Greek philosopher Socrates opined, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Now, of course, Socrates was speaking of self-examination as key to personal growth and development rather than examination of others, and no doubt he would jump for joy to see how the impossibly modern invention of social media has created this omnidirectional dialogue among the human race (or at least those who are connected). With such public, permanent records that are accessible by billions, we’re forced to examine the image that we present to the world, the incredibly powerful voice that for those thousands of years was the sole purview of heads of state, government, religion, etc.
This morning, a H50 fan tweeted this:
Now, honestly, this kind of thing makes me cringe, and not just because I actually like Catherine. I think she’s just as good a foil for McGarrett’s craziness as Danny is, although the chemistry doesn’t appear to be quite as strong. I also appreciate that there’s another strong female character on the show who A. Doesn’t need a man to legitimize their role and B. demonstrates that “smart” and “sexy” aren’t mutually exclusive. There’s (unfortunately) a fine line between calling a man out on his bullshit like one of his buddies would and being considered a ball-busting bitch, and both Kono and Catherine do this fabulously well. I’m all for loving some characters and disliking others, but it can be done with more Aloha (and wit) than that, for sure.
I don’t care to write much about actors because characters are more fun, and characters don’t get their feelings hurt. I didn’t care much for Lori Weston, but I think Lauren German handled the role very capably. When I saw her interview at HIFF in 2011 she struck me as willing to do whatever it took to make the role as success and it surely must have been frustrating for her when the show’s course changed direction despite her best efforts with what was written for her. The character didn’t add much to the show for me and I didn’t understand a lot of the venom some fans sent in her direction. It appears that Michelle Borth’s character isn’t the only one with chutzpah. She followed up with this tweet:
Now I may be wrong, but I think it was showrunner Peter Lenkov who actually referred to Catherine as the “heart of Five-0”, so you can’t really blame the actor for that. As Scott Caan found out, even the most innocuous criticism can land you in one hell of a shitstorm. It’s a pretty sad double standard: we pick and pick and pick, hoping the stars will say something genuine and real, and as soon as we don’t agree with them or like what they have to say, we take it personally and get offended. I personally would have been starstruck that an actor on a show I liked picked my tweet and responded to it (the tweet wasn’t directed at Michelle). Truth be told, fans do some pretty crazy, irritating shit sometimes, and you just can’t blame folks for telling you what they really think about it.
The response:
True, you’re entitled to dislike a fictional character, but to imagine you’re also entitled to tweet about it without the possibility of getting a response, be it positive or negative, is pure delusion. If you can’t handle feedback on your opinion, write it in a diary with a lock on it. What’s unfortunate is that I’m sure everybody ended up feeling badly about it afterwards.
More importantly, Michelle had other things to say:
#winning. While most of Gay Hollywood remains in the closet (unless they’re dragged out, kicking and screaming, by Perez Hilton or TMZ) it’s nice that, aside from a few notable Far Right detractors, the call for GLBT representation in media is growing almost daily, and from a stream of progressively more influential voices. The problem, as I’ve mentioned before, is a matter of genre rather than progressivism. H50 is a police procedural, not a romance, and legitimizing McDanno would turn it into one (although it’s still fun to joke it already is just one big Boy-Meets-SEAL serial with a little police work thrown in for filler).
As if Twitter hadn’t already lit up like a pride parade float over Michelle’s admission, the narrative got even more interesting:
This is actually not surprising. Although the friendship between Steve and Danny had been explicitly written into the script from early in Season One, interviews have revealed that some of the McDanno scenes were the result of improv. And honestly, yes, it would add some crazy drama to the show – the clincher is whether it would add crazy drama that would keep existing viewers and attract new ones, and once that toothpaste is out of the tube, it’s not going back in. I would cautiously opine that it could be exploited as a gimmick if the ratings take another dive, but there actually is opportunity to break some real ground here, and it’s honestly exciting to think about the possibilities.
In the 2000 film The Wonder Boys Tobey Maguire’s character and Robert Downey Jr’s character sleep with each other, but the fact that they’re both men isn’t really an issue. That same year, Big Eden told the story of a coming-home-and-coming-out in a small Montana town peculiarly devoid of homophobia (the townsfolk are a little surprised, but not scared or disgusted). What I appreciate about both of these films is that they handle the love affairs as though the fact that they involve two men is a non-issue (which it should be) and it would be fantastic to see McDanno take that form, canonically, with the show.
I would love to see:
1. The “Casual Reveal”: Steve wakes up in the morning, showers, brushes his teeth, etc. Oh, by the way, that’s Danny still snoozing on the other side of the bed. No editorializing, no explanation, episode proceeds as normal. That would generate buzz.
2. The “Nothing To Hide”: Similar to the “Casual Reveal” but not quite as explicit. It can be made chastely clear that our boys are romantically involved (more explicit that it is now, but not by much). If we’re talking ruined dates (like hiking in the mountains, going deep sea fishing, etc.) we’ve already done that, really, just throw in a tad more physical affection and there we go.
3. The “Big Non-Surprise”: Steve and Danny figure out what their constant googly eyes and muppet faces really mean, drink too many Longboards, and get totally gay with each other (without ceremony). Later, they agonize over telling everybody who knows them about it, only to find that everybody had long assumed they were already doing it and just didn’t care. (I particularly see some cash changing hands between Chin and Kono, who, when prodded, sheepishly admit the bet wasn’t if Steve and Danny were going take the plunge, but when).
Whew. That was a lot to talk about. Share some Aloha in the comments below!
